


The Work Wife

by kohakuyume94



Category: Naruto
Genre: Arguing, Arranged Marriage, Body Guard Yamato, KakaYama - Freeform, KakaYama Week 2019, M/M, Rokudaime Hatake Kakashi, YamaKaka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kohakuyume94/pseuds/kohakuyume94
Summary: The demands of the Rokudaime have always been many. But, when the Village Elders start to try and offer advice that will effect more than just the Village, Kakashi is forced to make a decision that might just cost him his marriage.





	The Work Wife

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This guy is for Day Three of Kakayama Week 2019 - Fake Dating.
> 
> I kind of wanted to reimagine the idea of fake dating a little, and turn the tables of what that could mean. So, here's my take!
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

A soft knock rapped against the door to the Hokage office. The Rokudaime knew it well, not needing to ask who was behind the door before he told his husband to come in.

“Kakashi-sama,” Yamato said, tucking inside. “How was your meeting with the Elders?”

“Tenzo, please, we’ve been over this,” Kakashi teased flatly, still buried in the mound of papers on his desk. “‘Sama’ only in the bedroom.”

At this, Yamato rolled his eyes so hard that it brought the porcelain mask off his face so he could properly scowl at his smug husband.

“Ah, there’s my beloved’s handsome face.”

Yamato’s eyes narrowed, observing, “You’re stalling. Was the meeting that bad?”

“I’d rather not talk about it right now.”

“You summoned me here to debrief. Normally, as your body guard, I’m invited in on all your meetings. I know you specifically arranged that I would be busy for this one. What did they discuss with you, Kakashi?”

Yamato had long-spent time learning what each subtle twitch under Kakashi’s mask meant, as well as the distant shift of his eyes. Though they’d grown so far in openness and vulnerability with one another, Yamato’s keen eye for the minuscule cues of the man he loved aided him well in moments like these, where the hesitancy of causing inevitable pain pushed Kakashi to withdraw.

“They…” Kakashi started, sighing and shaking his head slightly before giving in and trudging on into a conversation he had hoped to never have. “They had a plan to prepose, regarding us...”

“And?”

“They think that it would be wise if I were to be wed to the daughter of one of The Wind’s Feudal Lord’s.”

Yamato’s face recoiled, Kakashi’s words failing to compute.

“To wed? As in to be _married_? They want you to marry the daughter of a Feudal Lord?”

Kakashi clenched his jaw.

“Yes.”

Yamato blinked rapidly, still unable to understand.

“I’m married to you. We’re married. The Elders know this.”

“Yes.”

Exasperated, Yamato took a decisive step inward, demanding more information.

“Kakashi!”

“They’re not asking me to _actually_ marry her," Kakashi explained matter-of-factly. "It would be for appearances only, not actually legal or legitimate.”

At this, Yamato gave a slight scoff, thinking he understood.

“Because they don’t want people finding out about a Hokage in an openly homosexual relationship.”

“Because they want to protect you," Kakashi corrected. "Strengthen relations with the Villages in Wind, and fortify the image of our strength through allies to prevent future war.”

“Explain, as I thought we had secured an era of peace.”

“We have - but, that peace takes constant maintenance to be kept." 

The Rokudaime straightened up, taking on a bit of the confidence he had to often carry through meetings and councils, tone covered with a heavy layer of diplomacy.

"There’s been quite a bit of discontent from Hidden Mist since the end of the war. Seems a lot of their older generations miss the more bloodthirsty side of their former leadership. I do not doubt the strength of the Mizukage to keep things in line. However, it could be wise to reinforce relations with Hidden Sand, and draw a clear line that to mess with one, is to mess with the other. Could keep Hidden Mist off our backs in the future.”

“I thought we were all supposed to be allies."

“You know as well as I, that there will always be those to oppose peace.”

Yamato looked to the mask in his hands, completely blindsided, insulted indignant defense boiling up inside him and surpassing his normally calm and calculated rationale.

“So, you’re on board with this idea, then.”

“I want to know what you think of it," Kakashi replied calmly. 

Calm was far from Yamato, however, long lost at the first mention of the man he'd loved since the first moment meeting him, the one that he'd fought for and endured for, and finally been able to wed, marrying another.

“I think I don’t understand how you could _possibly_ entertain this idea.”

“I’m not saying it’s a desirable course of action, by any means, but I do think there could be benefits to come from it.”

“ _Benefits_?” Yamato scoffed, his face growing red.

“Poor choice of words. But, you know what I mean," Kakashi defended with a slight roll of his eyes. " _Diplomatic_ benefits.

He paused a moment, shrugging.

"Truthfully, I don’t know how much it would change our actual lives.”

Yamato felt all the oxygen in the room suddenly thin into nothing, a suffocating humidity that sucked the spandex of his uniform against his crawling skin as if it were shrink wrap.

“You don’t know how..." he quavered, trailing off in his own breathless disbelief. "How can you say that? You would be _married_ to someone else!”

The Rokudaime raised his hands, standing behind his desk to counter his fuming husband.

“Not _really_ , though.”

“Who cares!? Honestly, Kakashi!" Yamato raged on, now pacing the length of his husband's office like a trapped and taunted animal. "You’d have to marry her publicly. You’d have to be seen with her around the Village, often. I’m not going to parade around behind you and your- gods, Kakashi, I can’t even say it!”

“Tenzo-"

“Don't." He pointed a finger into his husband's face, the sting of angry tears burning at the corner of his eyes. "Don’t ‘Tenzo’ me."

He hated this. He hated losing himself to his emotions. Nearly every moment of his childhood served to strip him of emotion, forcing him to lock all of those distracting, destructive feelings behind an impenetrable barrier. But, Kakashi had always managed to unearth them, to access all that had been conditioned away. For better or for worse. Balance for Yamato came through years and study and relationships, but for the moments that still  managed to push him too far over the edge of his emotional capacity, control was lost to bare instinct and near hysteria.

He shook his spinning head.  

"You know they’re going to end up asking you two bear a child.”

“Bear a child?" Kakashi repeated, aghast. "Like an heir? Tenzo, I’m not a king!”

“Then _why_ are we discussing an arranged marriage with a princess from a neighboring land for political gain?” Yamato demanded, slamming his hands into his husband's desk.

The Rokudaime met him with equal vigor, bearing over the desk an inch from Yamato's face, and finally revealing the heart of the issue for him.

“Your being married to me puts a target on _your_ back. If there is a decision that can be made that can take that target off, and strengthen the bonds Hidden Leaf has with an ally, then I’m going to at least _consider_ it.”

Yamato's eyes narrowed.

“I’m well aware of the target on my back. It’s been there since I was a child. My being a shinobi, my mokuton - are you going to try and relieve me of those, too?"

He pushed off the desk, taking a few steps back and imploring, "Besides, what does it say about you, that you would take me out of the position as your husband, a position I _happily chose, knowing_ the risks, and put some helpless, royal lady there?”

“I wouldn’t be taking you out of any position. I never said that at all, Tenzo," Kakashi countered, coming out from behind his desk and meeting with Yamato's turned back. "And do not assume I did not first think of this young woman being offered up like some kind of prize. I am not so heartless. She is a trained shinobi - a jonin - she is certainly not helpless. But, injuries from a recent mission prevent her from going back on the field. She wants to accept _this_ as a mission, as a last something she could do to serve her people and her father. All of this was her idea.”

Yamato shook his head, shrugging his shoulders and huffing, “She still steps in to put my target on her back.”

“I didn't ever _want_ a target on your back, Tenzo," Kakakshi confessed with a bite, whipping his husband around by the shoulders to meet his eyes.

“What do you think it is to be your body guard?”

“I didn’t ever want that either!”

Yamato nearly laughed in his complete loss.

“Then _why_ did you appoint me the position!?”

“Because you asked for it!" The Rokudaime roared, losing himself to his own emotion, and the rest tumbling out of him in a frantic outpouring. "I really don’t _want_ to need a body guard at all, or to have your life on the line anymore. But, we’re shinobi, and I’m the Hokage until Naruto is ready. You’re an excellent body guard, and I love having you close to me, and not having to sneak our time together, or come up with a reason for why we live together. But, I never wanted you in _my_ line of fire. So, if there’s a way I can better protect you, I want to consider it.”

Wounded, Yamato took a step back, making explicitly clear, “I am a shinobi just the same as this woman. I have my duty and my willingness to die for it, the same as she does. But, I am also not just some fragile thing that needs protection. I’ve been an ANBU member and Captain for years, and I’m the sole possessor of the mokuton. Do you really think any threat that would come against me could overcome me at this point?”

“It’s happened before!”

The words exploded out of Kakashi's mouth before he had a chance to catch and cushion their implication, and the room went silent as the impact laid waste to his husband. 

“Wow..." Yamato panted. "Okay...”

Slow steps pulled him backward to the door. Really, he couldn't believe any of this, nor could he stand there and bear any more that might come if he stayed any longer. 

“Tenzo, wait!" Kakashi shouted desperately when his husband turned for the door. "Come back. You’re _not_ dismissed.”

“Oh," he seethed, hushed and low. "I am not leaving now as a subordinate without their Hokage’s dismissal. Right now, I am storming out as your husband.”

Tearing out of the office, Yamato quickly re-situated painted porcelain to hide his red and tear-stricken face, and fled.

Kakashi spent the rest of the afternoon and a good while of the evening up in his office alone. He would see no visitors, and spoke with his advisor only for a brief moment before lying about a headache and requesting to be left undisturbed.

They hardly fought like this. Squabbles and annoyed bickering peppered over most of their days, as it did for most married couples, especially for those as particularly stubborn as they happened to be. But, they hardly had legitimate arguments that escalated to the point of raised voices and cutting remarks. 

In his office, feigning a headache and suffering of heart ache, Kakashi wrestled with himself for what to do in what he felt to be an impossible situation. 

At home, Yamato forced himself through all of the things he had learned to be healthy emotional habits, even though he didn't want to do any of them. He cried. He journaled. He did tai-chi with incense wafting about. He showered.

The knot in the pit of his stomach remained.

His husband arrived home around seven, bringing with him a large bag of Yamato's favorite take-out as a peace offering to get through the door. Yamato had cooked them both dinner, complete with dessert. 

This cracked a slight, pained smile between them, and the pair of them dined together in silence at their dinner table, each of them eating what the other had provided. The quiet remained as dishes were cleared away.

Soon after, Tenzo dismissed himself to go read in the back, and Kakashi decided to shower. 

“Hey, can I -" Kakashi started softly from the doorway of their bedroom pajama-clad and wet haired. "Would it be okay if I came in bed with you?”

Yamato, not looking up from his book, nor shifting from his place under the covers gave a small sigh, warning, “Don’t think you can try to seduce your way out of this.”

“I’m not trying to seduce you at all," Kakashi promised, teasing lightly after. "Unless, you are wanting to be seduced...”

Glancing up from his book, Yamato shot a blank, unimpressed stare to his husband.

“Didn’t think so..."

Laughing sheepishly, The Rokudaime crossed over to his side of the bed, picking up his own book and tucking between their sheets. They remained this way for a few minutes more, while Kakashi struggled to form the right combination of words in his mouth, and Tenzo mindlessly read the same sentence in his book over and over again.

"I, uh, I read somewhere that married couples aren’t supposed to go to bed angry with each other," Kakashi said finally.

Yamato gave a short hum.

“I'm not sure it's wise to seek marital advice from erotic novels.”

“I read it in an article I was given.”

This piqued his husband's interest, though he was hardly ready to show it, or give Kakashi the satisfaction.

“I thought all the relational articles I’ve shared with you were still buried in a giant mound of un-filed paper work on your desk.”

“I dug them out.” 

A tense pause stretched between them, Kakashi holding his breath as turned to sit on his knees and plead with his beloved.

“I handled this afternoon poorly. I told you I wanted to hear what you thought, and then I didn’t listen to you at all. I only came up with explanations and defense. I’m sorry.”

Blinking rapidly, Yamato allowed his book to fall back on his lap, remarking in a bit of awe, “You really have been reading up…”

“That, and Gai found me sulking on the way home," Kakashi added. "Shouted some sense into me...”

“Mm. I owe him a drink, then," Yamato murmured under his breath. He then managed to look into the reddened, worried eyes across from him, continuing, “Thank you, Kakashi. Your apology means a lot to me. I’m sorry, too. I let my feelings get the best of me.”

“Don’t apologize for your feelings, we’ve been through this.”

“I know, but I should apologize if I let them get out of hand to the point of my storming out. I was being as rigid and closed off to listening as you were. I just... I needed talk to you as my husband, and not a politician.”

“Right," Kakashi agreed, nudging in closer. "I didn’t mean to make you feel as though I had already made up my mind. You are my partner, and I don’t want to make a decision for our marriage that we are not in agreement on. And..."

He outstretched a hand, placing it over their blankets and onto Yamato's knee.

"I didn’t mean to use what happened…during the war… I don’t think you’re weak… I just cannot endure losing you again.”

His thumb stroked a small circle, whispering on.

“All that war and death… Having Obito- having my past shame be the cause… Facing a goddess for which I could not have dreamed to have overcome… Sending Naruto after Sasuke again, alone… None of it compared to the grief of hearing that you’d been taken, knowing you were being tortured, thinking you might have…"

He shook his head, eyes closing to try and blot the nightmare from his mind.

"I would consider _anything_ to keep from that again…”

Book set back on his own night stand, Yamato placed a hand atop the one on his knee, the other stroking a light touch over Kakashi's cheek. He met their foreheads, guiding Kakashi's eyes back into his. 

“Can you see, why I petitioned so hard to be your body guard?" He asked. "I feel that same fear of loss for my Hokage… I just want to be enough for you… Enough to protect you, to set you at ease… Enough for the Village Elders to see me as enough of a guard to keep any threat from even trying to come for you…”

“Tenzo…”

“And, selfishly, I am tired of the shadows. I love you. I married you. I know safety means hiding that, but I don’t want history to take down the account of you finally finding love with this woman, and living out your days with her at your side…”

Their gaze fell back to the sheets between them.

“I don’t want that either…" Kakashi confessed. "I want for us to be retired somewhere, able to enjoy the peace that we’ve given our whole lives to build. But…”

“I know..." 

Yamato squeezed tight onto Kakashi's hand. 

“I want to help you finish strong, and if it means... if we need to do this-"

“Let’s not make any decisions right now," The Rokudaime interrupted, a sweet whisper coming with the gentle touch of his free hand taking up Yamato's face for himself, nuzzling their noses in closer. 

“I just want you to know, I’m willing to talk about it with you.”

“And I’m willing to listen. And I don’t think you’re weak. Nor do I want to be married to anyone else - fake or otherwise.”

The air between them thinned again, this time in through each other's hungry breaths, the pair of them both so desperately happy to have moved back in sync, and into the harmonious rhythm of their partnership. 

Slowly, as if it were the hesitation and need of their first kiss all over again, the men brushed lips in a helpless longing. They came back together, effortlessly melting through kisses. Kakashi savored his way up the cut of his husbands jaw, settling in to massage his tongue against the tender place beneath Yamato's ear that never failed to illicit an involuntary purr.

“See, this would concern me," Yamato remarked in a throaty rumble, Kakashi still working into the sensitive spot. "If you had your fake wife, I know she would know we’re together - but, I don’t know that I could relax enough to -"

A gasp stifled the end of his sentence, as Kakashi gave a final, sharp tug of his teeth over Yamato's earlobe before pulling away.

“I don’t think you’d need to worry about that," he reassured. "The Elders said she’d bring a handmaiden that would require accommodations. I’m pretty sure we’d dress the place up a bit to make it look as if she had moved in, but she’ll likely want to stay in whatever we’d build for her and her ‘handmaiden.’”

He leaned in for another kiss with the ending of his explanation, shocked when his husband snapped erect and nearly shouted.

“Damn it, Kakashi! She has a _partner_?! Why didn’t you lead with that?”

“I didn’t think it mattered," Kakashi shrugged. His eyes then widened as he wondered, "Wait, did you actually think I might fall in love with her?”

“No! I don't know!" Yamato spat frantically, his blush changing shade.

"What the hell?" Kakashi laughed, completely flabbergasted. 

"I - It just changes things, okay? I would have liked to have known that information!"

Embarrassed, Yamato snatched back his book from the night stand, burying himself in the pages to try and escape this ending to their conversation.  

“You thought I might fall in love with her..." Kakashi mused, shaking his head in mock-judgement. "That’s gross, Tenzo...”

“You’re attracted men _and_ women, you idiot!” 

“Bisexual? Yes. Shameless fan of erotic literature? Absolutely. Secretly called the ‘The Hedgehog Pervert Hokage’ by nearly half the Village under their breath? One-hundred percent. But, a cheater? You should be ashamed!”

The pair of them broke into soft laughter together.

“We’ll figure this out together.”

“We always do.”

They shared a last kiss before returning to each of their respective reading, snuggled in just a bit closer and far more at ease.

“Hey," Kakashi said suddenly, dropping his book down once more. "If we do end up doing this, and have to live the rest of our lives pretending I’m married to someone else, I’m going to arrange that, whoever gets up to talk at my funeral, reads the story of a piece of trash shinobi that was somehow lucky enough to fall so madly in love with a beautiful, strong mokuton user, that he was able to pull himself back together and become a semi-functional human being, at least sometimes.”

“You’re going to have them tell the story of Hashirama and Madara at your funeral? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Ignoring the wise-crack, Kakashi carried on wistfully, painting a lovely picture for their complicated romance.

“And I’ll have us buried next to each other, when you pass of course, which will be long after I do. And our love will live out in the open through history.”

“I’d like that," Tenzo smiled. " _My Hokage-sama_ …” 

Kakashi popped suggestive eyes over his husband who was quick to clarify, smirk tucked between his lips.

“Let me finish this chapter, and we’ll see...”

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
